Polarium

Comes in phases

A

May 01, 2005 6:53PM PST

First, if you dont like puzzles, then I guess you should get something else.

I think the attractiveness of Polarium comes in a few phases. The initial1 impact is good in terms of gameplay, it is fascinating for a while. That's the first phase. Then in the second phase, you figure out the built in puzzles and some weeks with the challenge mode, you hit a brick wall and you lose interest.

There is another phase beyond that, however. What I find interesting about this is that you begin to think rather differently in challenge mode. When you get used to the challenge mode in the first few weeks, you tend to think more about how to fill holes linearly, and that gets very repetitive and boring.

But just like in harder ones from built in puzzle mode, you have to think about how to walk all over the place to solve the whole lot at once. Once you begin to think in "that mode", the real fascination begins. To the untrained eye (who knows the rules), it looks magical how you're solving it so artistically and rhythmically. If someone was watching, they would probably say How Did You Come Up With That So Fast? That's where the magic of this game lies, when you begin "to think in Polarium".

Once you get that far, it's a great game. You might not play it more than an hour every day, but like Tetris it's a game that you keep coming back to. I found a lot of my friends who got bored of Polarium to have got to the 2nd phase, and never made it to the final phase of Polarium experience.

If you get stuck at the 2nd phase, I must say Polarium has a limited appeal because of its few modes, particularly at this price.